


epilogues

by fuuei



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, old as BALLS, really old work from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27972967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuuei/pseuds/fuuei
Summary: soft erwin and levi, after the war
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. accepting happiness

Erwin wanders into the kitchen one morning, bleary-eyed, hair a tousled mess. A shaft of early sunlight splashes across his face as he shuffles close.

He looks– younger. No. _He looks his real age_ , Levi realizes with a jolt. He looks it far more now than he did three years ago, worn down by guilt and blood and death. The memory aches.

“You slob,” Levi mutters, reaching up to smooth his bedhead. 

Erwin leans into his touch. It’s tentative but he receives the brisk affections without denial. He’s doing that less often, nowadays. Levi wonders when he’ll stop feeling relief.


	2. on the mend

When the war is over, Levi comes apart. Messily. Hange claims it’s good for him: like draining pus from a wound, all the poisons leeching out instead of left to fester. The ability to bury his emotions has helped him survive the Underground and the Survey Corps, but he won’t need to do that anymore.

Mikasa agrees. _You’re thawing,_ she says. _It’s much better afterwards_. Levi can’t argue with the quiet surety in her eyes.

And the fact is most days have become good, even if they aren’t always. Erwin sticks by him throughout. He’s gentle without being coddling, somehow endlessly patient. Levi is thankful except in the heat of moments like this, when painful rage chokes his throat like bile and nothing helps to ease it, not work or distraction or smashing their plates on the floor or Erwin’s infuriating attempts at comfort. 

“They died because _you told them to_ ,” he spits, a vicious wounded animal aiming to hurt– and regret slams into him the instant the words fly loose. Then utter horror, when he sees Erwin flinch. It roils up from his gut and spreads, drowning everything else out, infinitely worse than his earlier pain.

“Erwin. That’s _not_. I didn’t–”

“I know you didn’t mean it, Levi.” He says nothing about it not being true.

Levi steps carefully over the broken shards littering the floor.

“No. You’ve done so well,” he whispers into Erwin’s chest, meaning it as much now as he did then, with every fiber of his being. “We’ve come this far– we’ve _won_ – thanks to you.”

Erwin folds into him. His hand strokes up, down, up Levi’s back, and this time the warm pressure is soothing as it’s meant to be. They stand like that, leaning into each other until their thudding heartbeats turn steady, calmed.


	3. so much schmoop

Hange sends them tea. There’s the usual black, and an “exciting new mystery blend!” that Levi grumbles about all the way back. Erwin listens with fond humor as they walk home on roads paved with the rubble of Wall Maria. It’s a beautiful day, one of the last golden afternoons of summer.

By the time they’re climbing the porch steps Levi has moved on from predicting how the tea will make them shit bricks to how it will block their shits entirely _,_ and he’s cocking his head at Erwin to open the door so they can shove it deep in a cabinet and forget all about it until Nile comes to visit.

But Erwin doesn’t want to go inside just yet, an impulse rising strong in him, and he thinks, _why not?_

Instead of the key in his pocket, Erwin reaches for Levi’s face. He crowds close, mindful of the packages in Levi’s arms, and bends down to press their lips together. Levi startles, then pushes back, opens for him; then they’re kissing sweet and slow, heavy drugging kisses out on the porch where any chance passerby can see. Erwin’s heart is full, and lighter than he can ever remember it being.

They have to come up for air eventually.

“What the fuck was that for,” Levi breathes out as they part. His eyes are glazed, cheeks red. Erwin traces the flush of it with his thumb. His hand finds other excuses to linger: tucking a stray lock behind an ear, chasing the silver strands in Levi’s hair.

“I just… wanted to.” 

From now on, he decides, that will always be reason enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello. i'll be reuploading a lot of ancient ficlets from tumblr. just copy pasting swathes of text without re-examining the contents. 😔 please bear with me


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